U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, March 27, 2008
Friends of Yosemite Valley v. Kempthorne, No. 07-15124

In a suit alleging that the National Park Service failed to prepare an adequate Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) for the Merced Wild and Scenic River, summary judgment for plaintiff is affirmed where: 1) a 2005 Revised Plan did not describe an actual level of visitor use that would not adversely impact the Merced's Outstanding Remarkable Values because it required a response only after degradation has already occurred; 2) interim limits were based on current capacity limits and NPS did not show that such limits protect and enhance the Merced's ORVs; 3) the CMP was not a single, self-contained plan; and 4) a supplemental environmental impact statement violated NEPA because a "no-action" alternative assumed the existence of the very plan being proposed, the three action alternatives were unreasonably narrow, and for the first five years, the interim limits proposed by the three alternatives were essentially identical